Skip to main content

Made by a Fabricista: Addicted to the Granville Shirt

Image
By
I think I have an addiction and I'm not afraid to admit it...

 I'm addicted to a certain buttondown shirt...the Granville Shirt from Sewaholic Patterns. 

 I have already made three versions of this figure flattering shirt and I'm not stopping there! I've made it in flannel, silk charmeuse and cotton chambray.

 Here's the cotton flannel version. Of course I picked a plaid for my first go around. It's one thing to try out a pattern for the first time and then pick a plaid that can be unforgiving if you do something wrong! You can read more about this shirt HERE. 

Next, I made the shirt from a silk charmeuse. Again, I picked a printed that needed to be matched AND work with a bit slippery silk! Why do I do this to myself? 

I ended up using what I believe was the wrong side of the fabric. You can see from the photo below that the left side is shiny, the right side brighter and more crisp. I used the brighter side as the face. The shiny side was kind of washed out and I really didn't like the way it looked. This fabric was a sample cut that never made it on the website. 

For the inside collar band, plackets and cuffs, I chose an ivory silk charmeuse from my stash. It matched the ivory in the print perfectly! (I love when a plan comes together.) I also used the backside of the ivory charmeuse because I liked the matte look of the backside.



If you want the look of an expensive buttondown shirt, I would recommend making it from a silk, but take care in sewing whether it's in the construction or top-stitching. You want the silk shirt to be top notch! I serged all the seams because I felt that the charmeuse could handle it. Some of you may decide to use a french seam, but I honestly was a bit lazy! 

Lastly, I kept it simple with a tiny polka dot chambray shirt. The polka dots are woven into the fabric and are small enough that there is no need to match them! (YAY!) I put pockets on the front (they are straight, just doesn't show that way in the photo because of the way I'm standing.) 



I chose a cotton print from my stash for the collar stand, plackets and cuffs -- aren't the little birdies cute?! 




I have a few other Granville's in the planning stages, one in particular for a co-worker. But after that one is finished I'll probably take a little break and sew some other summer projects. What are you sewing right now? 

Comments

  1. ElizabethMay 10, 2015 at 9:34 AM

    They all turned out great, I love a good button down shirt, they are always wardrobe workhorses!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sue ParrottMay 10, 2015 at 9:56 AM

    Wow, I never thought of making this in a silk, it's beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  3. allandan500May 10, 2015 at 11:24 AM

    Very nice work.

    ReplyDelete
  4. WendyMay 10, 2015 at 5:17 PM

    I love the buttons on the multi-print, and the contrast plackets and cuffs/collar stand. I do want to nitpick one thing, though, that's been bothering me when I've seen it elsewhere as well as here, and I apologize for being a picky twit about it: this shirt has a button front, but isn't "buttondown", which refers to a collar that buttons at the corners to the body of the shirt. Again, sorry for the negativity--please keep up the good work!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fabric MartMay 20, 2015 at 10:44 AM

      Hi Wendy, Thanks for the clarification. I did not know there was a difference. I have always called this type of shirt a buttondown shirt.

      Delete
  5. anne jewellMay 11, 2015 at 11:07 AM

    i never have "too many" shirts. these are great!--anne

    ReplyDelete
  6. UnknownMay 12, 2015 at 8:18 AM

    I love every single one of those shirts..

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ann BrodskyMay 12, 2015 at 4:14 PM

    Nice shirts! I love the bird print accents on the last one.

    ReplyDelete
  8. bpatricia74May 18, 2015 at 9:12 AM

    Lovely shirts! All of them are winners! You have the fit to perfection. You're very talented!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Fabric MartMay 20, 2015 at 10:45 AM

    Thanks everyone for the comments! I love making them and am going to make more!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for leaving a comment! All comments are reviewed before posting to help us eliminate spam. Your comment will be posted within 24 hours.

Popular Posts You Might Like

Made By A Fabricista: Liberty Snow Day

By
Hi everyone! While we’ve been blanketed with snow out here in Southeastern PA, I decided to conquer my fear of button holes and make NewLook pattern N6749. I was able to snag a few yards of the Jess + Jean print Liberty of London Tana Lawn for it. It’s always exciting when Fabric Mart is able to get Liberty fabrics in! I always make sure to grab some.  Cutting into a beautiful piece of tana lawn is scary every time. The fabric is such good quality, I’m afraid to mess it up! I had to be extra careful as this is also the first directional pattern I’ve worked with. But one of my assistants made sure all of my pieces were laid correctly. Something I wanted to try out with this dress was finishing the inside seams using the overlock stitch on my domestic machine. Normally I would french seam, but it was nice to not have to worry about cutting seam allowance in half, sewing, trimming, flipping, and sewing again. Next time I would cut the seam allowance back before overlocking, but I thin...
8 comments
Continue Reading »

Made By A Fabricista: Embracing Winter in Wool Boucle

By
As winter drags on, the cold weather is such a bummer to me and feeling uncomfortable and cold so often is rough. Meanwhile, I listened to a podcast all about how people in very northern countries deal better with the onset of dark, freezing winter with a radically different mindset of embracing the inevitable season by reframing the chill as refreshing and the opportunity to spend most time indoors as cozy. I can do that!  I found a gorgeous, quintessential wool boucle suiting in black and white to make myself a luxurious outer layer while I’m outside attempting to embrace the sting of dry winter air… It’s kind of working. So classic, so chic! Wearing boucle is always an uptown move and I certainly do feel sophisticated in it. This black and white houndstooth combination feels especially Old Hollywood, and what a treat to make something with this!  I sewed the Daphne Jacket from Vivian Shao Chen. There are no closures, and the shape is boxy and very easy to wear over multipl...
4 comments
Continue Reading »

Made By A Fabricista: Sewing + Running

By
It’s not every day that I get to mix two of my favorite hobbies. Especially when one hobby is sewing and the other is running. You can’t sew and run at the same time, but, you can go running in something that you sewed! With this realization, I embarked on my first hobby-merging adventure.  We’ve had some frigid temperatures in Pennsylvania this winter. Since I’m an outside, stroller-pushing runner, I bundle up my son and myself before I hit the road. The temperature feels 20 degrees warmer for outside runners than the outside air. For the children being pushed in the stroller though, it feels about 20 degrees colder.  With these differences in temperature for each of us, layering is the only thing that ensures that we both stay perfectly warm. My running wardrobe has been lacking a warm top layer. My son’s wardrobe would also benefit from having another warm layer, so I knew pullovers were what I should make.  Inspired by a name-brand ¼ button-down fleece pullover I saw,...
2 comments
Continue Reading »